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Advantages of a Founder’s Personal Branding for Startups (IamWire)

Startup founders should be aware that as heads of future MNCs they carry a lot of weight on topics of business development, innovation & technology, corporate strategies, CSR, community affairs & development. These are low hanging fruits, which a lot of founders can target to shine light on their own businesses.

In today’s fast paced startup ecosystem, it’s normal to see new technologies emerging and market trends changing rapidly. To survive, startups must understand the importance of changing direction or adapting to new market conditions. By changing direction or pivoting, a startup can decide its fate, since it is an important step that often makes all the difference between success and failure.

Why It’s Imperative For Startups To Keep Up With Innovation (Entrepreneur.com)

For any startup to stand out of the crowd and get noticed, be it by customers, investors or just about anyone else, it is critical that they innovate. If you have nothing new to offer, it’s very easy to get lost in the crowd.

With the startup scene in the country booming, the media has been having a field day chasing new stories and bringing the limelight on the new ‘rising stars’. With so much action happening in the startup ecosystem, the media gets enough fodder from this segment to keep its audience hooked and TRPs soaring. Startups too love the attention from the media and consider it as a powerful medium to build their brand. Clearly, both the startups and the media thrive on each other.

Right from that leap of faith into the unknown, till a successfully running business, there are quite a few qualities at work in such entrepreneurs which make them leaders of the pack.

Entrepreneurs are the new stars of the Indian business landscape. They have achieved cult status due to megabuck evaluations, innovative products, novel marketing techniques and the ability to take on International giants. The industry views with awe, their boldness in breaking traditional barriers and creating a new demand for their products and services. But for every one entrepreneur who rose to the top of the heap there are hundreds lying at the bottom that could not complete the climb.

For a truly modern business, it has become imperative that it is run by “global citizens”. Globalisation is shaking up the way the world is run, thanks to leaps in modern communication and transportation technologies, which has made people now perceive themselves as part of a larger community.

Looking for a suitable mentor should hold as much, or rather, even more importance for entrepreneurs than pitching for angel and VC funding.

“Mentors can be one of the most powerful weapons for an entrepreneur, by providing guidance, wisdom and connections,” says Lourdes Martin Rosa, an American Express Open advisor and mentor. It has never before been so relevant than in the current, booming entrepreneurial landscape.

The long awaited constitutional amendment to Goods and Services Tax (GST) finally sees the light of the day. Given that the businesses in our country face several hurdles in dealing with 29 states, 7 union territories and of course the central government, the uniform tax structure is definitely something to cheer about. GST is deemed to benefit the businesses of all sizes and nature, startups too can expect to look forward to better times ahead.

Gurgaon-based startup accelerator GreenHouse Ventures (GHV) has partnered with Makoto Takano, editor-in-chief of Forbes Japan and former president of PIMCO Japan Ltd, to launch a Rs 350 crore (around $52 million) fund for early stage Indian startups.

Applop Mobile Solutions, a SAAS provider that enables users to make their own mobile app, has raised a bridge round of funding from GHV Accelerator. The startup has received about $250K so far and plans to close this round at $500K.